Människobarn by Dina Ögon

The fourth album from Dina Ögon is longer than any they've ever released. If the eponymous debut, the sophomore effort "Oas", and the latest album "Orion" all stopped abruptly, the band is now pulling out all the stops and demanding our full attention. During a time when the album format has largely been pushed back, privileging peppering of digital single releases of songs without any relation to each other, Dina Ögon are heading in the opposite direction and releasing a double album.

If Anna Ahnlund often gazed at the wider world previously, her eyes are seizing upon inner worlds and on relationships now. Even though the lyrics continue to be open to the greater world surrounding us, it gets most intense when they focus on life, sorrow, and experiences, and reformulate them into songs that vacillate between euphoria and melancholy. 

The music of Dina Ögon has often been sprawling with curiosity and taken the listener on excursions of musical discovery, but now it is as if they've found their home. It definitely doesn't get humdrum, but the sound is theirs, rather than playing around with the locution of others. One moment it goes with a swing, the next moment a darkness oozes out that seldom simmered out before.

The contradictions within that enormous cauldron from which they gathered their inspirations are blended more courageously and maturely. Influences and styles are woven together to something of their own rather than just being disclosed. All the while, they weave a good dose of humour into songs heavy with experiences. Twists and turns and melodic licks appear where you aren't expecting them to.

Just as with previous albums, anyone trying to pick singles from the album has a dire task ahead. The sum is greater than the parts. But there are still some obvious bangers here that are sure to hit the airwaves. "Dålig teve", "Margaretas sång", "Människobarn", "Hack i häl", and "Du tappa dä". If Dina Ögon's earlier albums brought you a soundtrack to late summer love affairs, it's autumn by now. Whether autumn brings love that has grown or sorrow over that which has passed is in the listener's ears - you'll probably hear everything, winding and twisting in all manner of possible and impossible ways, like a music akin to a painting by M.C. Escher that makes sense at first, then invites everything and its opposite into the mix.

Dina Ögon - Människobarn
Release Date February 2026
Label Playground Music

Tracklist
1. Dina Ögon - Människobarn
2. Dina Ögon - Du ska va kvar
3. Dina Ögon - Där huden är tunnast
4. Dina Ögon - Verdandi
5. Dina Ögon - Grå labyrint
6. Dina Ögon - Du tappa dä
7. Dina Ögon - Margaretas sång
8. Dina Ögon - Orden brann
9. Dina Ögon - Juvel
10. Dina Ögon - Varandra
11. Dina Ögon - Dålig teve
12. Dina Ögon - Hack i häl
13. Dina Ögon - Hélena